Riding huge offensive production in their last three doubleheaders, the St. Olaf baseball team has its engine primed for the final stretch of the 2001 season.

Currently tied for second in the MIAC with a 12-2 record, the Oles have only three doubleheaders remaining, all home contests against three of the MIAC's toughest teams. On Wednesday St. Olaf hosts Saint John's University, followed by Concordia-Moorhead College Saturday and MIAC-leading University of Saint Thomas Monday.

The Ole bats were nothing short of incredible last week. Averaging 18.5 runs a game during sweeps of Macalester College, Augsburg College and Luther College, Ole hitters have embarrassed the pitching staffs for opposing clubs. "We've hit the ball really well against average pitching," said head coach Matt MacDonald.

Sprout has produced a barrage of runs himself, batting .394 for the season and hitting three home runs in both the Macalester and Luther doubleheaders. With the offense firing on all cylinders, the Oles' primary focus until the end of the season will be fine-tuning their pitching and defense, two areas that have lagged at times in recent games.

"Defensively, we have seemed to lose focus in these long games and this is what we have to work on," commented senior captain Casey Coulson. "We are a great defensive team and we have to be ready for the three good teams we have coming in to close out the regular season."

"Our philosophy is to have our pitchers throw strikes and then play great defense," said MacDonald. "We have to refocus a little bit and play good defense like we did for the first half of the MIAC season." The Oles will need solid performances out in the field to get wins in the difficult doubleheaders they face to close the season.

On Saturday, the Oles host a tough Concordia team that stands at 10-6 in the conference. The Cobbers have proven that they can beat any team in the league; they're responsible for St. Thomas's only loss in the MIAC this season and they also split a series with 14-2 St. Mary's.

But home field should provide an extra advantage for the Oles as the visiting Cobbers face a long trek from Moorhead to Northfield. That doubleheader starts at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

St. Olaf concludes its regular season in appropriate fashion, facing MIAC-leading St. Thomas. The two teams have been #1 and #2 in the conference the last two seasons and the remaining schedule could see the teams in those positions again for an important finale in determining seeding for the MIAC tournament.

St. Olaf was the MIAC regular season champion last year, splitting its series with the Tommies. St. Thomas then beat St. Olaf two out of three games in the conference tournament, winning the tournament and an automatic NCAA playoff bid. The Oles were given an at-large bid for the playoffs, but were eliminated by the Tommies in a 1-0 nail-biter. St. Olaf will look for revenge at 2:30 on Monday afternoon.

The team knows that they'll need a greater degree of focus and concentration to pick up wins in these very important final series. "We need to play our best if we're going to win any of these games," said Coach MacDonald. "Now comes the big charge. We've got two super-tough doubleheaders and I think we're up to the challenge."

"Right now our goals are focused on taking one doubleheader at a time," said Sprout. "We are in good position to win the conference if we keep working hard and winning games."

The home field advantage for these final games could be huge, as the Oles have a perfect record here this season and average scoring of 18.8 runs a game at home. "Everyone on the team gets excited to play well when the hill is filled with students," Sprout remarked. "The games coming up will be huge, so we are really going to be focusing on playing our best baseball."

Everything's shaping up great for St. Olaf baseball this season as they enter a tough conclusion to their schedule. They expect to see some hard-fought games come down to the final pitches as the clock ticks down on their regular season.

"What we work for is to get into the position we're in now‹to play really meaningful games at the end of the season."

As MacDonald explained, there's no place else the Oles would rather be.